The Thousandth Clock
by Forge2
Summary: The Doctor and Rose land in a dark forest blanketed in thick fog. There are no birds, or beasts, not even a breeze. The Doctor is cautious. Some mysteries are best left alone, but then out from the fog comes a voice calling for “the Professor...
1. In the Waiting Woods

Title: The Thousandth Clock

Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose, Ace, and the Seventh Doctor

Summary: The Doctor and Rose land in a dark forest blanketed in thick fog. There is something odd here. No birds or beasts, not even the slightest breeze. The Doctor is cautious and wants to get back in the Tardis. Some mysteries are best left alone, but then out from the fog comes a voice calling for "the Professor…"

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Doctor Who and Company are the property of the BBC.

Notes:. Reviews are nice, they make my day, so please read and review. I've never written for any Doctor but Seven, so this is an interesting experiment. I wanted to write a Doctor Who story with a fairy tale feel. I hope I've succeeded.

Chapter One: In the Waiting Wood

The forest stretched from one corner of the globe to the other. Hardwood, pine, and oak all reached leafy branches towards a nameless sun. This was a primordial forest, silent and empty. There existed no force here to disturb a single blade of grass, or a green leaf upon the far most branch. Dust modes hung motionless in the air. There was nothing here save the bark, the branches, and the fog. Such fog, of a kind few have ever seen, thick gray fog, smothering the whole of the forest, like a pillow pressed tightly across a child's sleeping face. Into this waiting wood there came a sound, like that of a decrepit orchestra, and suddenly there was a blue box where before no such box had been. Shielded under the branches of a pine tree, the Tardis sat, flattening the grass upon which it had materialized. With a creak the door swung open.

"Here we are, the Spurzhiem Tower home of humanity's first space elevator," the Doctor said as he emerged from the Tardis. "Broke ground in spring of 2137 and didn't finish until…ah." He looked around.

"What's the matter Doctor," Rose called. Closing the doors behind her she glanced up at the canopy. "Great space elevator?"

"Well…" the Doctor ran a hand through his hair nervously.

"One of the Nine Wonders of the Modern World?"

"Might just be through that patch of forest."

"A space elevator? Couldn't you see it from like Australia or something."

"On a clear day…" the Doctor said.

"Admit it Doctor, you messed up…again."

"That's a little harsh don't you think," he started to say. Rose gave him a look. "Alright, alright I might have messed up a little." He looked around again. "Mind you, when I say a little…"

"You mean a whole lot. This was supposed to be a great big shopping mall in the sky, but it's," she trailed off.

"A charming, storybook, somewhat…creepy forest." He held out a hand. "Shall we explore?"

Grasping his outstretched hand, Rose grinned. "You betcha'," she said. Hand in hand they stepped into the fog. As they got farther and farther and farther from the Tardis, Rose experienced a vague uneasiness. There was something wrong, but she couldn't quite figure what it was. Her skin tingled warily, but as time went on it slowly got worse. She felt clammy and uncomfortable in her own skin. She tilted her head listening. What was wrong here? "Doctor," she said at last. "do you notice something a bit…I don't know, a bit off?"

"You mean like the fact that we've been here over an hour and haven't seen bird or beast or heard a single cricket chirp, or owl hoot, or bird call, or that not a single leaf has moved even the tiniest nanometer, or that the bark, the leaves, the grass, the flowers none of them have even a waft of smell? No I haven't noticed a thing."

Rose took a deep breath. "Should I be scared?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Probably." Suddenly he reached up and pulled a leaf from an oak. Putting on his glasses he peered at it curiously, before handing it to Rose. "What do you think?"

Rose examined it closely. She even briefly considered licking it. "I don't know. It seems like a normal leaf to me."

"That's because it is a perfectly ordinary leaf, in every respect save one…it's not alive."

"Come on Doctor look at it. It can't be dead."

"It's not dead, but it's not alive either. Like the rest of the forest it's somewhere in between."

"What, you mean this is a zombie wood?"

No," the Doctor glared at her. Then he closed his eyes and reached out with his mind. "This forest is old, very old…" he frowned. "…and young."

"How can it be young and old at the same time?"

The Doctor opened his eyes. "I don't know," he said. "but it's waiting. This whole forest is waiting for something."

"Waiting for what?"

"No idea." The Doctor slipped his glasses off and turned suddenly. "But we're leaving, now."

"Doctor?" Rose was shocked.

"There are some mysteries, Rose, that are best left alone."

"Like this one?"

"Yes, like this one. Now come on." He broke into a swift walk, and Rose had to scramble to keep up.

"You know what's going on here, don't you," she asked.

"I have a few ideas, none of them pleasant."

The Doctor was scared. That much was obvious, but Rose wasn't quite sure what he was scared of. Sure the forest was creepy, but there didn't seem to be anything in it. Then, maybe it was empty for a reason. Rose shivered as she considered what those reasons might be. Suddenly she caught something on the air. Was that a voice?

"Doctor," she said. "Doctor!" He stopped and turned. "Listen," she urged. "Can you hear that?" There was only silence.

"Rose…" he started, but then he caught it, a voice echoing in the silence, a cry for help. There was something familiar about that voice. It battered at his memory. Then he caught the word being shouted into the fog.

"Professor…" the voice called. "Professor!"

The Doctor couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. It had been lifetimes since he'd heard that voice, but he remembered it. He knew who was calling from the fog.

"Ace," he whispered. He smiled at Rose. "Come on," he said and they were off and running, deeper into the woods.

"Professor!" Ace cried into the mist. It'd been over a day since she'd last seen him. They'd been separated in the fog, whether by accident or design, she wasn't sure. She'd seen a lot these past few years in the Tardis. She could take things and bottle them up until later, when in the safety of her room the fear didn't matter anymore. This place, though, it got under your skin. Even the Professor had seemed uncomfortable. Now he was gone, lost in the woods, or was she the lost one? Her head jerked around. There, the sound of twigs snapping. Someone was running. "Professor?" She called happily, but it wasn't him that emerged from the haze. There were two of them, a man and women. He was young, barely older then her. He wore a pinstriped suit and a long beige trench coat. Behind him was a young woman about Ace's age. Where the hell had they sprung from?

"Ace," the Doctor grinned broadly. She looked exactly as he remembered, closer to the teenager he'd first met than the young woman she'd become. She was still wearing that old bomber jacket, badges and all. Yes, exactly as he remembered only…she wasn't smiling back. She was tensed ready for action, and her eyes were wary. He noticed the familiar hat and umbrella she held clutched in her hands. Closer to the teenager, that meant he hadn't explained about regeneration yet. Wonderful.

"Oi, who are you two, and how do you know my name?" Ace wasn't very happy.

"Listen Ace I know this is hard to believe, but I'm the Doctor."

"Try again mate. You look nothing like the Professor."

"Hello," Rose waved nervously. "I'm Rose. I understand because when I met the Doctor he looked completely different, but he changed right in front of me. There was this light and…"

"Stay out of this Goldilocks. I don't trust your friend here and I don't trust you."

"Listen to me Ace, we first met on Iceworld…"

"Cause Fenric sent me there," Ace took a step back, her body coiled and ready. Rose thought there was something vaguely feline about her.

"I told you that there were three rules. One, I'm in charge. Two I'm not the Professor. I'm the Doctor." The Doctor continued. He could see in her eyes that Ace was starting to believe.

"And the third," she asked her voice trembling.

"I said I'd think up the third by the time we reached Perivale."

"How? No, you could be some sort of mind reader."

"Very good, you're using your intelligence, but I am the Doctor. I told you once that 'exotic alien swords were easy to come by, but Aces are rare."

Ace stared at him for a long moment. There was something about the eyes. She could almost believe. She wanted to believe. "If you are the Doctor, then how did you," she gestured indicating his new appearance.

"I'll explain later," the Doctor replied.

Ace smiled. "Now I believe you."

The Doctor grinned in return. "Excellent, now it seems that I've crossed my own time field again, never a good sign. We need to find me as quickly as possible."

"You're from the future," Ace said.

"That's right, but I'm still your Professor."

Ace shook her head. "No," she said. "you maybe the Doctor, but you're not the Professor."

The Doctor met her eyes for a long moment, before smiling sadly. "Then let's go find him, wherever I am."

Next Chapter: By the Statue of Fallen Foes


	2. By the Statue of Fallen Foes

Chapter Two: By the Statue of Fallen Foes

Rose suppressed a shiver. The forest stretched on and on. In this silent dreamlike world, Rose could almost imagine that this was all her life had ever been. One foot in front of the other, over and over again since time began. She could almost imagine that London, Earth, and all the myriad of worlds she had seen were all delusions, and this motionless everlasting forest was the universe. The forest was getting under her skin and crawling deep inside. She felt an unnatural urge to turn and run, run as fast as she could and escape, but perhaps it was a natural impulse. After all even the Doctor had wanted to run away and leave the mystery unsolved. Unfortunately his earlier self hadn't felt the same. Rose idly wondered how often the Doctor had to rescue himself.

This line of thought brought up another disturbing thought. Somewhere on this planet there was another Doctor, a Doctor who hadn't met her yet. What would he be like? Short, tall, funny, moody, serious? More importantly, would he like her? She shrugged that away as silly, but it still bothered her. If the Doctor had so many lives, so many different personalities, then was there a time when he wouldn't have liked her? When he would have found her annoying or silly, or stupid? Rose's stomach did something that would have made a gymnast proud. She wasn't helped by her certainty that the Doctor, her Doctor, the one in front of her marching purposefully through the fog, had no idea where he was going. Yet up ahead the forest was opening into a clearing, and the fog was thinning ever so slightly. She could see a tower rising up into the fog above, and its great metal gates were open.

They entered the courtyard cautiously. Again Rose couldn't help noticing that there was something vaguely feline about the way Ace moved, something almost inhuman. Her eyes moved swiftly and her body seemed coiled as though to pounce. But there was no one there. The courtyard seemed normal, though Rose had never seen one look this new. They were alone here; it was empty, except for the statue. Ace gasped. There in the center, atop a pedestal stood a short man intricately carved of stone. The detail was incredible, every laugh line, every strand of hair, were all perfectly rendered. While Ace and the Doctor stared up in shock, Rose looked down to read the plaque.

"The Doctor," Rose read. "President-Elect of the High Council of Timelords, Defender of the Laws of Time, the Oncoming Storm, here rendered into Fallen Foe. May such a fate befall all enemies of the Enchantress." Rose looked up with new understanding. "So that's you then. I don't get it why build a statue?"

"A warning, message, celebration…to gloat," The Doctor shrugged. "I'm more interested in who the message was for. You don't see many enemies running around out there," he gestured to the forest.

"There's us," Rose suggested.

"That's a disturbing thought, cause then she'd have known we were coming, and I don't like it when people know I'm coming, especially since I didn't know I was coming." The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. "Something doesn't make sense. Ace," He spun on her. "when did you say you last saw me…him" He nodded up at the statue.

"Don't know, maybe a day."

"A day, 24 hours, 86400 seconds…so in that time, my earlier self disappears into the fog, is beaten by this Enchantress, who feels so good about herself that she builds a statue to commemorate the event."

"Maybe they have fast masons," Rose said.

"And maybe there aren't any masons. Maybe that isn't a statue, maybe it's me."

"What you mean like petra…pentri…"

"Pentrifold Regression, no not like that at all."

"Then what?"

"Magic," the doctor said.

"Oh come on," Rose said.

"Magic is as good a word as any. It has as much meaning as 'science.' They're both just labels, meaningless words we use to categorize and label what can't be labeled," he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and focused it on his other self. "Take telepathy for example," the Doctor continued as he worked. " a central tenant of magic, and a scientifically named phenomena, but do either of them know why it works? Ah," he grinned and put the screwdriver away. "I've isolated the frequency of his brainwave patterns."

"So now what," Rose asked.

"Telepathy," the Doctor closed his eyes. "Contact," he whispered and was still.

Rose glanced from her Doctor up to the statue. "So what's your Doctor like?"

"The Professor? I don't know. He's a lot less open then yours seems to be. Though I'm still not sure how they can be the same."

Rose sighed. "Sorry," she said.

"No I get it. He can't explain because he already will have explained…or something. This always makes my head hurt. At least he's not running around writing notes to himself."

"Eh? Notes to himself."

"That's right. I mean it's a time machine ain't it?"

"Yea but…" Rose trailed off.

"Mind you, the Professor and me are going to talk when this is over. I've got a few questions to put to him."

"Be sure to ask him about regeneration."

"Regeneration?"

"That's right. So Ace, what's with all this 'Professor'?"

"It's a nickname, like Goldilocks."

"Oi, my names Rose."

"Rose? I guess I could call you Lily or I don't know, Petunia."

"I'm not from Harry Potter!"

"Harry what?"

"Harry Potter, skinny little wizard with scar and glasses…" Ace looked blank. "One of the most book series of the 20th century." Ace still looked blank. "What year are you from," Rose asked.

"1987."

"Oh, I guess that explains the jacket." " Rose glance nervously at her Doctor. He was standing so still that he could have been a statue too." "What do you think he's doing then?"

Ace shrugged. "Telepathy," she suggested.

Rose rolled her eyes, but her retort was interrupted by a groan. The Doctor opened his eyes and smiled. "I've reawakened his frozen mind and destabilized the outer petrified shell. The rest is up to me…him."

"You make it sound easy."

"Not really, I feel like I've gone one on one with a Sontaran."

"Now what?"

"Now we watch," he gestured up, where the stone seemed to be cracking. Light peeked out from the cracks. The statue was splintering, crumbling apart, and underneath was a figure of flesh and blood. Pure mental force pushed out destroying the stone from within, until at last there was a blinding flash of light and the last fragments of the statue fell to the ground. The little man swayed slightly, then tumbled off the pedestal into Ace's arms.

"Professor," Ace cried. She sagged a little under his weight, and lowered him gently to the ground. She shook him gently.

"Ace," he said groggily and opened his eyes. He took a deep cleansing breath and smiled. But even as he smiled at Ace, his eyes fixed themselves on his pinstriped future. "What am **I** doing here," he asked.


	3. At the Library of Entrapment

Chapter Three: At the Library of Entrapment

Ace and her Doctor were making faces at each other. He leaned over and tapped her gently on the nose. Ace grinned and handed him his hat and umbrella. Smiling back he patted his pockets absentmindedly. She reached over into his jacket and pulled out his handkerchief and started dusting him off.

"What was it like Professor," she asked.

He swatted her hand away. "Like being turned to stone, what else?" Ace sighed and stuck her tongue out.

Rose watched their interaction with interest. Almost immediately she could see the depth of their friendship. It was there, unspoken underneath the playfulness. Those two cared for each other, Ace and her Doctor, Ace and the Professor. Now that Rose had a chance to look the earlier Doctor over, she decided that he did look like a professor-dressed in his dark brown jacket, russet waistcoat and checked trousers.

"Rose." Her perusal was interrupted. She turned. Her Doctor was watching the other two with such longing, that Rose felt a lump in her throat. Then the moment passed and his eyes were on her. "We need to talk," he said.

"Yes Doctor?"

"You need to be careful what you say to them. No mention of the War, not even the slightest hint to either of them."

"You mean he's before…"

"Yes, he's before and I…he can't know."

"Ok," Rose said. Now she understood the look of longing she had seen. It wasn't directed only at Ace but at the Timelord he had been, the Timelord who still had a people, even if he didn't particularly like them. Rose felt a sudden urge to run over and tell the little man everything she knew. It would be so simple, but the Doctor told her not to. What must be must be. Rose felt suddenly tired and drained. The prospect of meeting an earlier Doctor had suddenly lost it's appeal, now that she had a secret welling up inside. Such temptation, she couldn't even imagine what the Doctor was going through.

"So what am I doing here, then?" Rose looked up. The Doctors were locked in a battle of glares.

"Oh you know how it is," her Doctor said.

"He messed up," Rose interrupted. "He was going to take me to some space elevator." Her Doctor gave her a hurt look.

"Space elevator? Wicked," Ace piped up.

"Yes," the Doctor said smiling smugly up at his future. "Isn't Spurzhiem some when that way," he asked innocently. He waved his hand vaguely. "a few centuries if memory serves."

"I'm not the one who got myself turned to stone."

"A minor inconvenience," the little man shrugged.

"A minor inconvenience? You'd still be a monument if it weren't for me."

"I had a plan," he huffed. They were standing toe to toe, their noses almost touching, and glaring identical glares. Rose spared an incredulous glance at Ace who was grinning broadly, as if Christmas had come early. They were the same person. How could they be squabbling like children?

"A plan?"

"A good plan," the little man protested.

"Oi," Rose shouted. "Great big frozen forest anyone? You get turned to stone and you two stand here bickering." The Doctors glanced at each other uncertainly and smiled bashfully.

Her Doctor cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Um, about this clever plan of yours…"

"Yes?" The little man looked up at himself expectantly.

"Err…any chance of sharing?"

"Well I thought we'd take a look round the library and…"

"Library," the Doctor asked. "What library?"

"Hmmm? Oh the one at the top of this tower," the smaller man smiled. "Didn't I mention it?"

"No, you didn't," the Doctor bit out.

His earlier self shrugged. "Now I have. Shall we?" Then he was off heading towards the watchtower entrance at a brisk pace. While Ace rushed to catch up with him, Rose turned to her Doctor.

"He's a bit…" she gestured vaguely.

"Yes, I always was a smug little…"

"I can still hear you," the other Doctor called over his shoulder. His pinstriped future rolled his eyes still muttering to himself.

The library was huge. The walls were lined with books from floor to ceiling. Piles were staked haphazardly about the floor. The only light filtered in from a slit of a window.

"Oh," said Ace. "books."

"Well it is a library," the Doctor whispered in her ear.

"I was hoping for a suit of armor at least. That would have been wicked."

"Diabolical even," he muttered. "Browse Ace. You might find something interesting."

"Sure Professor," she headed off to the far corner, her head soon buried in a book.

"So what are we doing here," Rose asked.

"Pooling our resources," the Doctor said. "Sowing the seeds of defeat in the fields of our enemies…"

"Gathering information," the other Doctor interrupted impatiently. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his glasses, to his younger self's amusement. "Presumably there's something in here that our Enchantress friend didn't want read. So she turned him into stone." The earlier Doctor frowned at that, but didn't say anything.

"Oi professor," Ace called out. "these books don't make any sense."

"No," he asked but somehow he didn't sound surprised.

The Doctor picked up one of the books and flipped through it quickly. Then he stopped and flipped through it again. "It can't be," he said.

"Oh yes," the smaller man said. "it can."

"What? What is it," Rose asked. She grabbed the nearest book and opened it at random. Words so many words and symbols that somehow conjured a feeling in her mind. She was reading wind, but that was impossible.

"This is a waiting world," the Doctor said.

"What's that mean," Ace asked.

"By the same process I was trapped in cold stone, every bird, beast, fish, flower, all the winds and the tides, and other forces of the world have been compressed and entrapped in parchment pages."

"The power requirements are astronomical. I mean of the scale. There is no scale. Not even the greatest Gallifreyan technomages could have imagined such quantities of power."

"And whatever their faults, they had vivid imaginations."

"So it's a waiting world, what now?"

" Now we see if there is something here we could use."

So they read and read. A strange sort of stillness descended on them, as if the world was conspiring to make them a part of it, frozen. Even the Doctor's maniac energy seemed drained. He sat surrounded by open books; his glasses perched on his nose. Next to him, Rose glanced over at the other Doctor and Ace. They were muttering softly to each other, closed off to the rest of the world. Rose wondered briefly if that's what she and her Doctor looked like to outsiders.

"There's one thing that's been bothering me," she said.

"Only one?" The Doctor smiled at her. His eyes twinkling over his glasses.

"Isn't it dangerous the two of you being here?" The two Doctors glanced at her, with identical almost patronizing smiles.

"Well, it doesn't happen often…"

"Time and space is usually big enough for all of us…"

"But sometimes," her Doctor shrugged. "'No individual shall be permitted too meet themselves, and risk temporal paradox.' It was one of the most important Laws of Time."

"Yes," the other Doctor said. "Blinovitch limitation effect…very nasty." Ace tapped him on the shoulder.

"Look at this Professor." He glanced down and smiled.

"Very good, Ace." He tapped her fondly on the nose.

"But paradoxes," Rose continued. "Wouldn't that attract those…um…Reapers?" Her Doctor froze at that and the other Doctor's gaze was on her in an instant. She'd seen that look before, in her Doctors. As if all his attention was now focused solely on her. She shivered slightly, as those blue-grey eyes seemed to burrow under her skin and demand answers. It seemed to stretch on for ages, but really lasted only a matter of seconds. Then suddenly the moment was gone, and the little Scotsman was smiling at her guilelessly.

Rose took a deep breath. She'd always known, intellectually, that the Doctor was dangerous. She'd seen him kill, and arrange missile strikes, but from the inside somehow it had always seemed fun. Now that she understood, she felt strangely cold inside, but she wished she knew what she'd said.

"Well," her Doctor clamored to his feet. "I think we've learned all we can here. I say it's time we were off to see the wicked witch."

"Where's she then," Ace asked.

"Probably in that castle," he pointed out the window. Then he reached down and helped Rose to her feet, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Come on Dorothy," the Doctor said, jamming his hat atop his curls. "Let's find the yellow brick road." Ace stuck her tongue out at him

"Does that make you the wizard then," she asked.

"Pay no attention," he smiled. "to the man behind the curtain." His smiled faded slightly and he frowned thoughtfully at his future self's back. He was missing something.

Next Chapter: In the Castle of the Broken Clocks Pt. 1


End file.
